Three colleges in East Lancashire could be impacted by industrial action as a strike ballot begins next week as the new academic year gets underway.

College and university lecturers could soon be walking out, as the University and College Union’s (UCU) largest strike ballot in England opens on Tuesday, September 5.

The ballot, running at 89 colleges, will be open until Tuesday, October 10, as the union campaigns for increased pay and improved working conditions for its members.

Staff at Blackburn College, Burnley College, and Nelson and Colne College Group will be balloted, as will staff at other colleges which serve East Lancashire students such as Craven College and Myerscough College.

The dispute comes amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, with UCU demanding a fair pay offer, a national workload agreement, and binding national pay negotiations.

The Government has announced an additional £470 million of funding for colleges over the next two years, which education secretary Gillian Keegan has said is “equivalent” to the funding that is going to schools to fund a 6.5 per cent pay increase for school teachers agreed earlier this year.

However, UCU says the employer body the Association of Colleges has not recommended a pay award for the upcoming academic year, with some college tutors paid £26,000, £9,000 less than school teachers.

The UCU says salaries for college lecturers has fallen 35 per cent behind RPI (retail price index) inflation over the past 12 years.

Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: “Hundreds of millions of pounds in extra funding is coming into further education, and it needs to be shared with the workers who provide the teaching and support students. 

“The government announced the extra money over a month ago but the employer body we are supposed to bargain with has not yet made a pay recommendation for the coming year.

“We need proper bargaining and binding national commitments.

“Our members are fed up with low pay and high workloads and they will be voting for strike action if employers fail to meet our demands.”